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The workshop mooted in paragraph 32(iv) my experience teaches me is likely to be a protracted academic exercise of little if any practical value to countries in this region in trying to solve their problems. I have had some dealings with U.N.S.D.R.I. and Mr. James Moore and have studied the Frascati Report (Hong Kong sent a delegate to this workshop). Modified
or not, such a project is likely to be too large, complex and sophisticated for the countries of this region at their present stage of development. The Frascati Report is hardly intelligi- ble to a layman by way of illustration. This premature and over ambitious exercise too I believe should be queried critically and discouraged. Money can be better spent.
I have heard nothing of the meeting at paragraph 32 (vi). I,C.A. A. is quite a reputable organisation. The Congress might be worth attending if the agenda is relevant to the circumstances of this region and there is a good panel of speakers who know the Orient and its ways, but such may not necessarily be the case based on what I have seen from this Council in the past. Very much padding for Colombo this one.
The task envisaged at paragraph 32(vii) is one for the U.N. Regional Liaison Officer when he comes in my view, if indeed there is a need at all for such a Bureau which is doub tful. I cannot speak for other countries of course, but in Hong Kong we receive a vast quantity of drug literature and resource material from all over the world, and I suspect it may be the same elsewhere. Again, very much padding for Colombo.
Paragraph 32(viii) may look impressive on paper, but this type of suggested exercise amounts to pure flannel and nothing more. I have seen much of this proposed type of high minded international activity which falls flat on its face in the event because of plunging into a poorly examined commitment which never gets off the ground on account of a lack of resources and a real motivation to follow through. One immediately asks who from the staff of two is going to undertake this enormous, complicated and laborious task having regard to their other duties. Not P.A, that is for sure. This work can be, and frequently is done on a bilateral basis between interested parties.
Yet a further off the cuff gimmick to keep the Drug Adviser in business I am afraid.
And so as I wrote at the beginning, the true profit accruing from the work of the Colombo Drug Adviser is so negligible that his demise would pass virtually unnoticed. If on the other hand he is to stay, then his future duties should be re-orientated. Paragraph 35 of the report itself strongly hints at a switch of emphasis along the lines I have mentioned. Above all the Adviser must be brought down from extravagant and wasteful cuckooland and only be permitted to develop projects which are strictly relevant to the needs of Asia in a practical day-to-day sense. This region is nowhere near ready for the high grade academic, the armchair
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